


Capturing Perfection

by umintea



Series: Untitled Artist!Luhan/Xiumin Universe [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Artist!Lu Han, Fluff, M/M, Romance, holiday au, kaisoo just have minor appearances jsyk, possible inaccuracies in the holidays/seasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 23:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5762854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umintea/pseuds/umintea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luhan loves perfection and to him, Minseok, is the epitome of perfection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Capturing Perfection

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh I’m worried this doesn’t exactly conform to the holiday theme so apologies! This was an attempt at a ‘timeline’ of their relationship-ish, seasons/holidays are in no particular order so ye... enjoy! :D
> 
> (originally written for luminfics 2014 holiday contest)

Luhan likes to paint, likes how the strokes he makes turns into something more than randomly placed streaks of colour into something much more beautiful. He also likes how Minseok is the perfect muse, how his mere presence can spring so many ideas into his head. But he probably likes it best when he manages to convince Minseok to sit still for him as he tries to capture his soft smiles and dainty hands on a canvas. (But that never lasts too long as Minseok ends up squirming out of embarrassment, unable to take the adoring look Luhan always makes whenever he’s trying to paint him. Luhan, in his defense, says he’s merely taking in all the details so that he can do Minseok’s beauty justice.)

Minseok on the other hand prefers to observe, loves seeing Luhan create masterpieces out of dots and lines and curves and edges. He likes seeing the beauty and giving it the adoration it deserves, admiring how someone so beautiful can create something just as amazing. (Although Luhan still thinks Minseok is more beautiful than anything else he could ever paint.) And in that way he and Luhan are perfect for each other. One creates the beauty and the other gives it the love no one else can.

 

 

 

Spring has made its appearance in the flowers that Luhan paints as he sits on the porch with an easle finally dusted and used. He paints the tulips, the pansies, the daisies and he paints Minseok’s figure hunched over the flowers he was tending in their garden. Luhan frowns to himself with his teeth worrying into his lower lip, wondering what colours he could use to truly portray Minseok’s beauty that day and the way the sun glistening on his skin seemed to do him some good.

And as the flowers bloom, Valentine’s day comes. Instead of spending it like how other couples do, they stay inside watching rerun after rerun of cheesy dramas with their limbs tangled together in bed a comforting silence settling between them only interrupted by the occasional side comments on the main character’s recklessness. They spend most of the morning idling around, and that was fine because they didn’t need to excessively show their love for another on a specific day. To them, showing affection had to come naturally, it could not be dictated nor forced. And besides, a simple smile and kiss was all they needed.

 

 

 

“Minseok... I’m thinking of starting a new project again.” Luhan states as the male lead of the drama they were watching finally confesses his feelings to the female lead.  
  
“A new one? About?” He questions, his eyes still trained on the screen but the way he holds Luhan’s hand just a little tighter lets the younger know he’s listening.  
  
“Something... special, to say the least.”  
  
The elder hums before placing his head on Luhan’s shoulder, “Show me when you’re done then?”  
  
Luhan wraps an arm around Minseok’s waist, pulling him closer as the two slowly return their attention to the drama, “Like always.”

 

  

 

When Minseok is bored he cleans. He cleans the porch, the yard, the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, everything really. There’s one room in particular, however, that he’s absolutely forbidden from touching, from rearranging and disinfecting with his cleaning supplies, is Luhan’s special room. It’s the one place that holds everything he’s made, everything he uses to make, everything that is precious to him that isn’t Minseok.  
  
Minseok’s been in there enough times, seen what’s inside, what it looks like, and what Luhan hides in there along with the pieces of artwork he chooses to keep there and not in the gallery; but has never entered that one door that remains closed, blocked off with empty canvases and an extra folded, unused easle.

Sometimes, he’s tempted, he stares at the door and how it lacks a lock (he knows because he was the one who replaced the doorknob that one late summer) but then after a moment he wonders what he’ll gain from disobeying Luhan’s simple request. So even if the desire continues to gnaw at him, roaring at him to ‘go open the door!’ he resists the temptation and goes on about with his chores.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, as the months continue to drawl on, Minseok notices Luhan’s absence. He’s not necessarily missing, but his wide eyes and small smiles are fewer and fewer and that’s when Minseok starts to wonder. He’s not afraid, afraid of losing Luhan that is, because he trusts him and love needs trust to thrive. But it also needs understanding and enough communication. Minseok is patient however, he’ll wait and give Luhan time because this has happened before and there’s nothing to worry about.  
  
Luhan has a tendency to get too focused into things because he’s too passionate, too in love with his craft, which causes him to forget his surroundings. If he’s too engrossed into a painting he fails to remember what the hours, minutes, seconds mean. He temporarily forgets how to function properly, momentarily stuck in his world that consists of only him, his paints and blank canvas. But that’s why Minseok is there to take care of him when he can’t do it himself, pulling him out of his room to set him in front of a plate of his favourite dishes with Minseok softly but sternly stating that ‘he’d rather not let good food go to waste.’ And Luhan will smile and pull Minseok into a soft, gentle kiss- an apology in its own way- before attacking the meal because he’s absolutely hungry.

However, there are times when Minseok feels as if Luhan is speaking another language, the way he talks about colours and harmonies and pairs and all sorts of things that Minseok can never completely wrap his mind around. But Minseok tries, tries to talk to Luhan in his language, and the smile he receives is better than anything else he could have.  
  
(Minseok, when he really feels lonely, sometimes finds Luhan hunched over yet another canvas as he paints stroke over stroke of blues and reds and greens and yellows that turn into something even Minseok can’t understand. That’s when he wraps his arms around Luhan and he softly whispers how he would love for Luhan to go to bed with him so he can stain Minseok in hues of black and blue.  
  
Luhan presses kisses to his skin, muttering soft praises and ‘You’re perfect Minseok-ah, _perfect_.’ Minseok can only bite back a soft moan as Minseok slowly loses himself to Luhan, unable to answer that ‘Luhan, you’re perfect too, much much more perfect.’  
  
And on those nights they create something even oils and acrylics could not come close to portraying, their desire something too intense to be put into words. But that’s alright because only they have to know, have to understand the unspoken promises and words they whisper through chaste kisses.)

 

 

 

 

Autumn brings about a new view of rows of gold, orange and red, and the crunch of the fallen leaves under your shoe providing a feeling of satisfaction as you walk through the streets. Luhan’s on his way home back from the art store when he notices this. The few houses lining the streets have already set up their halloween decorations and he smiles at the sight of two children throwing themselves into a pile of swept up leaves.

As he walks through their neighbourhood, decorated appropriately for the seasons, a thought comes into mind and he very nearly trips over a misplaced pumpkin in his hurry to get back home because _Minseok I know what we’re doing for Halloween!_  
  
  


“Luhan...” Minseok nibbles his lower lip in a way that makes Luhan’s heart do a somersault.

“Yes?”

“We can’t dress up as a baozi and deer for Halloween...” And with that Luhan can feel his heart plummet into a pit of despair because _why not_?  
  
“But Minseok-” He begins only to be cut off by Minseok’s finger pressing onto his lips.  
  
“Shhh... I’m not saying we won’t dress up, Lord knows what you’d do if I said no, but I just want you to pick a costume that’s a little less... You _know_.”  
  
The taller male frowns but says nothing before leaving the kitchen in a silence that, now that Minseok recalls, was strangely out of character for his usually eager and excited self.

  
 

 

The following week, as Minseok sits in the kitchen going through a few letters that came in the mail (taxes, bills, useless spam, and oh look more bills), Luhan comes barreling in with what looks like a mountain of different articles of clothing. The younger proceeds to drop it in a heap by Minseok’s crossed legs and looking at the elder with an expectant expression that he can’t even bring himself to bother asking what this was all for. He sets the letter aside in favour of picking up the nearest piece of cloth by his foot only to throw it back at Luhan’s face.

“That’s supposed to be _clothes_?” He furrows his eyebrows in incredulity and makes a noise in the back of his throat because he could cover more skin with his boxer shorts than that piece of string.  
  
Luhan huffs, “Check the other costumes first.”

   
  


 

In the end the two come to a conclusion, a compromise if you will. The two settle for the more innocent version of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf’s costume (much to Luhan’s dismay) with Minseok as Red Riding Hood and Luhan as the wolf. And Luhan is a bubble of excitement, almost tripping over the wolf tail attached to his pants because he may be in his late twenties but that doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy halloween like everyone else.  
  
He and Minseok end up going around their neighbourhood with Luhan carrying a small white pillowcase and Minseok (who was forced to carry) a small wicker basket.

“Trick or treat!”

Silence, the person at the door blinks once, twice, thrice. “L-Luhan? M-Minseok?”  
  
Minseok sighs, rubbing the back of his neck, “Hi Kyungsoo... Trick or treat?” The elder says nothing else but his eyes scream ‘give us the candy already, _please_.’ and Kyungsoo, in all his kindness, dumps quite a handful into their pillowcase/basket before watching quietly as the two make their way to the next house. A tan male, taller than Kyungsoo, emerges from somewhere in the house. He rests his chin on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, “Hm... Who was that?”  
  
Kyungsoo shakes his head as he closes the door before herding the younger male inside, “Just some... trick or treaters..?”

 

 

 

 

 

The air has started to become colder. The once green leaves of the tree around the curb have turned a golden brown, landing gracefully on the pavement. With the arrival of the colder weather comes a new wave of meetings, deadlines and papers that Minseok meets, effectively halting his and Luhan’s small walks around the park and their visits to the nearby art museum for the time being. Luhan doesn’t mind all that much because this gives him enough time to finish his project, his fingers itching to get back to the half-finished painting on a huge canvas hidden in the back of a closet.

As Christmas draws nearer Luhan becomes more antsy, desperate to finish his artwork before Christmas Eve. He worries about different things as he paints and paints, dabs colours and the smallest of details onto it. He worries about not finishing on time and having nothing to give, he worries about making a mistake or inevitably ruining the painting, he worries about it not being good enough not up to the standard he usually sets for himself.

But he takes a deep breath and a sip of coffee before he goes back to work because he can faintly hear Minseok’s ‘tsk’ and words of encouragement among other things, telling him to keep going on because nothing will happen if he just stops, nothing he wants will take place if he doesn’t work to get to it.

  
  
  


It’s cold, Luhan’s hands are covered by a pair of mittens (courtesy of Minseok’s mother) and his neck is wrapped with a bright red scarf (this time, Minseok’s younger sister) yet he can still feel the air creeping onto his skin and he lets out a huff of air and he can see it rise up into the air like a cloud of smoke.  
  
He’s waiting for Minseok to finish his shift, it’s probably stupid of him to wait outside in this kind of temperature but he’s too excited. He needs Minseok to hurry down so that he can finally whisk him away back to their home and so that he can finally show him what’s taken him months and months to finish.  
  
The clock ticks away as seconds pass but Luhan’s wait pays off in the end as he sees Minseok exit he runs up to the elder and hugs him tightly, almost knocking the other down.  
  
Minseok’s laugh is light as he pats Luhan’s back. Once the taller lets go Minseok reaches up on his tippy toes and presses a soft kiss onto Luhan’s cheek, and his lips are chapped and slightly cold but Luhan doesn’t seem to mind as he beams at the elder.  
  
“Minseok-ah, Minseok-ah let’s go home quickly please.” He whines, tugging Minseok’s hand in the direction to their home.  
  
He laughs again, tightening his grip on Luhan’s hand but he obliges.  
  
  
  


When they reach home Luhan is quick to switch all the lights on before taking off his shoes and throwing off his scarf to hang precariously by the coat rack. Minseok barely makes it halfway into their hallway before he’s pushed in the direction of their sitting room where he’s told to sit in the couch and wait.

When Luhan returns he’s holding a carefully wrapped gift, it’s long and relatively flat and when Minseok gets to hold it he notices it weighs quite a bit. Luhan watches him carefully and softly tells him to go ahead and open it.

Minseok takes the wrapping off carefully and slowly, and when he finally tears the last pieces of wrapping paper off he gasps. Tears brim in the corner of his eyes and Minseok is up on his feet and pulling Luhan in such a passionate kiss so quickly the younger barely has enough time to register it.  
  
Minseok’s eyes are red and he’s looking at Luhan with a frown yet the younger is beaming, all smiles and soft, airy laughs. “I love you too, Minseokkie...”

The elder huffs but brings his arms around Luhan’s body, crushing him in a tight hug. He whispers softly, almost going unheard by Luhan, “Thank you Luhan... Thank you so much.”

  


  
And Luhan smiles proudly when Minseok finally gets the courage to hang the painting up. A portrait of Minseok, capturing his perfection and beauty the way Luhan had always seen it as. It was beautiful, done with the utmost of care and every single microscopic detail was there even if it would go by unnoticed to most people. But Luhan didn’t mind because no one else had to see those perfect imperfections, those little pieces that made up Minseok because there was no one else who could love and savour it all as much as Luhan.

**Author's Note:**

> also on: [LJ](http://onism.livejournal.com/2135.html) / [AFF](http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/887532)


End file.
